The screwdriver used to be a lot more important. I remember having to get an adapter when the TVs started only having coax and not the two screws.
I mean, I never worried about it even back in the day when the computer would yell at you if you didn’t click the stupid safe disconnect thing in the system tray.
Nothing ever happened. At worst, a thumbdrive would get corrupted and have to be reformatted. And I also grew up with the mouse and keyboard being PS/2, not USB, so it didn’t matter for those at all.
The purpose of the ‘stupid’ safe disconnect is the same as it is today, to finalize cached writes. If you are transferring large files to the device and don’t safely remove/disconnect the device then don’t act confused because the data isn’t there when you plug it into another computer. Or do, because that’s what users do.
Remember: (M)y (D)ear ©omputer.
You have to turn on the monitor, then turn on the disk drive, and finally turn on the computer. You have to do the reverse when you turn them off.
If you don’t do this you might damage your Apple //e.
When USB-C was still new, there was the possibility of an out of spec cable to kill your device. That’s, I think, slightly more inconvenient than said device not charging fast enough or not offloading cat pictures at the bitrate you expect.
Wow, It’s almost like we had a reason for different kinds of wires…
Honestly, I’d much rather have just 1 cable for everything
Remembering which port can output/recieve what speed/wattage isn’t that big of a deal compared to digging through a bunch of cables every time you need to charge something.
I hated it back when every device needed their own specific charger.
The problem is the wires can have the same head and not support everything the port can so not all wires work so you still end up digging through wires only now you also have to test each one, you theoretically could get only Super wires that support 40Gbps, Dp, 250W etc but those are expensive so you won’t and even if you do no body else will do you’ll always end up with a bunch of charge only (throw those away immediately) or low power or need the one that carries video but also need one that does 250w or whatever, the whole standard is a mess and it’s all because they tried to o shove everything into one cable, something we always knew was s bad idea because video and sound and data and networking all take different signals and different voltages.
Wait until they encounter the final boss
There are 3 ways to plug in a USB-A. Wrong, wrong and right.
Hey I can consistently get that around my 4th try
Fun fact: USB A can fit in HDMI ports.
USB-C also fits surprisingly well in a USB-A socket. Great feature in the dark.
When I was a computer repair tech, I had a customer come because their USB keyboard wasn’t working.
They had the USB-A plug jammed diagonally into the RJ45 port.
Mind you, this was back when USB was still new and pretty obscure, but still. The rectangle goes in… the square hole?
Of course it does🤦🤦♀️🤦♂️
Your dick can fit in HDMI. Your paycheck can fit in.
Doesn’t mean you have to try
Problem is, I have non-tech-savvy family who do try. And succeed.
Agreed, I still remember that guy that folded a 5.25 floppy disk to insert in 3.5 drive slot
You should be kinder to your family
I’m always impressed that they got this wrong even with USB-C. Here’s hoping that they finally make USB-D round so “orientation” does not matter.
what if usb-d is round but the orientation DOES matter?
Ask the musician in your life how they feel about XLR cables.
yeah i get it but that one only goes in the right way. that’s old tech, USB-A stuff. I’m talking a symmetrical build; you can connect it in any orientation, but only one orientation works. 359 degrees of wrong.
I hate you. I like how you think, and I’ll love to see the trolling PoC demonstration, and we will be watching your career with great interest, but I hate you. XD
Ive never had a USB-C with orientation issues. What am I missing?
I have heard on some adapter cables from USB-A to C, you can have the C end flipped 180 and on devices not expecting this you get a different transfer speed on the A end. Rather then build in redundancy and duplicate the transmission path they’ve just built a cheap this should go this way device.
What did I just read 🤷♂️
You have to plug it either — horizontal or — horizontal (upside down). You can’t plug it / or | or \, so you have to do more twisting and bending in the dark or to reach a far / beyond-corner connector.
We’d literally and figuratively come full circle back to barrel plugs hahaha.
USB A has 4 pins. You could use a tip ring ring sleeve cable like on a headset
I remember getting a USB 2.0 PCMCIA card for my laptop to use my enormous external DVD drive. The only DVDs I had at the time were X-Men, Star Wars Episode 1, and Nothing But Trouble.
Nothing but Trouble
Absolute CINEMA.
I have a soft spot for what most people consider objectively bad movies. Battlefield Earth, Waterworld, Soldier. Some of my favorite movies from my teenage years.
Every interaction I’ve ever had with display port has resulted in me rage quitting. Did it ever do anything?
Display port? What’s wrong with it? Only thing I can think of is it is sometimes hard to get out if you can’t squeeze the cable to unsecure it.
What? I have been using it as my preferred video port for over a decade. How could it possibly make you rage quit?
Eh? DisplayPort is great, non-proprietary HDMI that we should all be using instead. I use 4x DisplayPort connections at work daily.
Are you referring to DP interfacing through UBS-C?
USB, the jack of all connectors, master of none.
Well, the U does stand for universal.
Blame the standards group. There are so many things USB is excellent at but they have been horrifically butchering the implementation.
They need to mandate compliance. Each accessory should support a basic level of features. Packaging and listings should include a facts table which shows the support for the various features. You shouldn’t have to guess.
But let’s talk about the features. Oh. My. God. Let’s talk about it.
USB-PD is great. But they don’t have to support it. Or they can have their own implementation which is also compliant. Or their own implementation which isn’t.
Oh, but you can connect your headphones into the USB port and play music! Well, only if the device, cable, and headphones support analog audio. Or if the device, cable, and headphones support digital audio. But if it supports digital audio, both devices must support synchronous audio. Or asynchronous. Or adaptive. And none of these are cross-compatible.
Well, that’s annoying. At least video isn’t bad. You can use it to connect directly to your monitor! Just make sure it’s DP. Or HDMI. Or VGA. Or MHL. Or VirtualLink. Only DP and HDMI are cross-compatible.
They also can support Ethernet. Or they might not. They could support ThunderBolt. Or they won’t.
They have to be at least USB 3.0. Sorry, 3.1 Gen 1. Wait, 3.2 Gen 1x1. Oh, I mean SuperSpeed USB 5Gbps. Ah, fuck, never mind they changed the standard again - USB1/2 are fine.
But at least manufacturers are happy to put the specs on their packaging and listings, right? I’m sure there isn’t any natural incentive to hide this information so they can sell inferior products.
Woah, worse than i thought.
That’s just the port side. The cables are just as fun, you have multiple levels of power delivery support, that generally don’t include data. There are data cables, that may or may not support video. Thunderbolt cables support most everything. The highest charging speeds generally require dedicated cables. Assuming everything is standards compliant it shouldn’t break anything to plug in the wrong cable to the wrong port.
Scart is missing. Well i’m not sure anyone misses that jank
Then most people get advertised higher quality for their DVD player not knowing they have to switch it to “RGB mode” first, therefore the entire effect being placebo.
SCART is the most glorious analog video connector ever devised. No one can convince me otherwise. When I was a kid, it really put this idea in my head that we can actually do some pretty damn neat shit here in Europe. 🇪🇺
Oh such a crisp picture though, when compared to the rf coax.
Understandable omission. It was only really in use in PAL regions.
Plugging that in by touch was always good for a laugh.
EU regulations are pretty cool
I still use toslink. How else am I supposed to get audio to my DAC?
Realistically, I prefer USB 9B) over toslink for my DAC, but I am more confused how HDMI and DP are being shown as outdated.
My newest monitor supports USB-C but I’ve never used it. DisplayPort for the win.
usbc 😅
It has USB-B, toslink, and coax. Coax and toslink can’t be used simultaneously. I use USB to connect to my PC and I have an HDMI audio extractor pass through thingey that has toslink so I can use my PS5 with my DAC.
Use toslink for all. Does the USB connection to your PC and/or HDMI extractor work with digital signals like Dolby whatever?
I just came a little.
Result is the same. Doesn’t so what its supposed to so without proper planning.
That’s right, it goes in the USB-C hole!
I heard the voice
Slow charge speed detected.
Ahem. Remember this?
I think your tuning sponge needs replacing
Nope, that kinda looks like telecoms gear, what is it?
It’s an old IBM “Bus and Tag” peripheral interface cable. Before my time – I’ve seen 'em, but only in parts bins, not in actual use.
